Building on the results of more than six years of research in the area of botanical ethnography, the applicant proposes to initiate basic ethnobotanical research among the Aguaruna Jivaro, a primitive horticultural group of American Indians residing along the Upper Maranon River and its many tributaries in Northern Amazonian Peru. The major focus of the study will aim at (a) compiling initial detailed data relevant to the testing of hypotheses concerning the nature of primitive ethnobiological classification and nomenclature which have been suggested to be applicable to all pre-scientific peoples, (b) providing more information on prescientific man's ethnobotanical conceptualization of the tropical forest leading ultimately to a study of Aguaruna ethnobiology in general and (c) providing data on the use of tropical forest resources which may be of value to modern man at a time when such research is of crucial importance. The methods to be employed will be those developed in the area of ethnoscientific research over the last decade, accompanied by systematic botanical collecting of the flora recognized linguistically by these people in interacting with their floral environment and to describe in what ways this knowledge is used by them for their own benefit. The long term goal is directed toward illuminating the nature of primitive classification and cognition which is supported by detailed empirical research on actual folk systems.